Taunton's First Parish Church offers alternative worship sessions

A growing First Parish Church in Taunton is now offering an alternative service called Soulful Sundown” which invites participation and borrows from Eastern tradition using meditation, gentle movements and chanting.

A growing First Parish Church in Taunton is now offering an alternative service called Soulful Sundown” which invites participation and borrows from Eastern tradition using meditation, gentle movements and chanting.

“It’s a very different way of experiencing your faith,” said Pastor Christana Wille McKnight. “During the Soulful Sundown service there are chances at sharing, different kinds of singing and first we will be doing a type of meditation. … Some folks are interested and some people outside of the church are interested. It’s been creating interest for many who have never been to a church of any kind.”

Wille McKnight said the original Soulful Sundown was conceived within the denomination in 1990s to cater to younger people, explaining that traditional 10 a.m. services were “too early for college students.” But Wille McKnight said that the alternative services soon became a successful intergenerational church style, and that’s how she sees it going at the First Parish Church.

The First Parish Church, the oldest church in Taunton, is a Unitarian Universalist Congregation — a Protestant denomination that is known for its liberal and accepting views.

Staring on April 14 at 5 p.m., the monthly Soulful Sundowns will take place in the loft of the downtown church, lending to the spiritual experience with its “sacred geometry” and stained glass, said First Parish Church Music Director Kaeza Fearn, who is organizing the services. The guests will be sitting in a circle of chairs, rather than looking up at an altar.

“There is a different sense of connection when we are in a flexible space, with what we can do and how we can connect in a sacred way,” Fearn said. “The intention is to get a deep sense of the sacred, and of connection with each other, and those two things together in an embodied sort of way, when we are either sitting, moving or sharing words. This is an opportunity for each person to come forward and share of themselves, of their voice in a place where they can be heard in a closer way.”

Fearn said there will still be music, prayers, readings and so forth. But there will be an infusion of meditations, a Sacred Circle Dance and chanting, starting with kirtan, an originally Indian brand of chanting and mantras.

Wille McKnight said studies have shown in recent years that people are lonelier than ever, and that the First Parish Church and Soulful Sundown provide an opportunity for connections.

“People see themselves correctly as spiritual but not religious,” Wille McKnight said. “The point is it’s not something you can do on your own. Parts can be done on their own, but if you’re doing it entirely alone you’re missing something.”